'Heroes' helped stop gunman at Seattle university

Authorities respond to a shooting at Seattle Pacific University campus Thursday, June 5, 2014, in Seattle. The university posted online Thursday that "the campus is in lockdown due to a shooting near Otto Miller Hall."

The Seattle Times, Dean Rutz

Summary

When a lone gunman armed with a shotgun at a small Seattle university stopped firing at students to reload, another student pepper-sprayed him and subdued him with the help of others and prevented more deaths, police said.

SEATTLE — When a lone gunman armed with a shotgun at a small Seattle university stopped firing at students to reload, another student pepper-sprayed him and subdued him with the help of others and prevented more deaths, police said.

"There are a number of heroes in this," Assistant Police Chief Paul McDonagh said. "The people around him (the gunman) stepped up."

A 19-year-old man was fatally shot and two other young people were wounded after the gunman entered the foyer at Otto Miller Hall on the Seattle Pacific University campus and started shooting Thursday afternoon. When he paused to reload, a student building monitor disarmed him. The gunman had additional rounds and a knife, McDonagh said.

"But for the great response by the people of Seattle Pacific, this incident might have been much more tragic," he said.

The man in custody was not a student at the school, McDonagh told a news conference.

Four people, including the young man who died, were taken to Harborview Medical Center. A critically wounded 20-year-old woman was in intensive care late Thursday after five hours in surgery, hospital spokeswoman Susan Gregg said. A 24-year-old man was hospitalized in satisfactory condition. A Seattle Fire Department official said the man suffered "pellet type wounds" to his neck and chest.

A 22-year-old man was treated and released, Gregg said. Police said he suffered minor injuries during the struggle with the suspect.

None of the victims was immediately identified.

Aaron R. Ybarra, 26, was booked into the King County Jail late Thursday for investigation of homicide, according to police and the jail roster.

Also late Thursday, police who said they were serving a warrant entered a house that was believed tied to Ybarra. A phone message left at that house in the north Seattle suburb of Mountlake Terrace was not immediately returned.

Messages left with friends and relatives of Ybarra via social media were not immediately returned.

The Seattle Times reported that the suspect's father, Ambrose Ybarra, said he didn't know anything about the shooting.

"We just hope he's safe," he told the newspaper. "It's upsetting to have these accusations thrown around. We're in emergency mode. We are trying to stay calm."

The paper said Zack McKinley described himself as one of Ybarra's closest friends and said he was "super happy and friendly."

McKinley said the attack was puzzling because Ybarra was happy to have just started a job bagging groceries at a store.

He said Ybarra didn't do drugs or drink alcohol and spent time writing. Ybarra could get emotionally low, but McKinley said he had a good group of friends and never saw him depressed.

Student Chris Howard was at Otto Miller Hall when the shooting happened. He said he saw the wounded woman on the floor being tended to by a classmate. Her chest was bloodied. Her phone was covered in blood, but she asked her helpers to look through her phone for her mother, aunt and best friend.

Popular Comments

@A guy with a brain,I bet he was quite satisfied with his non lethal
weapon. I doubt he was thinking, if only I had a gun to create more havoc and
kill more people. That is messed up thinking.

11:53 a.m. June 6, 2014

Top comment

Monk

Pleasant Grove, UT

The only thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is . . . a bad guy with pepper
spray? So, the NRA is wrong about that? What else are they wrong about?
I'm so confused . . .

2:52 p.m. June 6, 2014

Top comment

A Guy With A Brain

Enid, OK

Article quote: "When a lone gunman armed with a shotgun at a small Seattle
university stopped firing at students to reload, another student pepper-sprayed
him and subdued him with the help of others and prevented more deaths, police
said."More..